Breakdown of Он решил предать своих друзей.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
друг
friend
решить
to decide (perfective)
свой
one's own
предать
to betray (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Он решил предать своих друзей.
Why is the word for "friends" друзей here? Doesn't the plural of друг end in -ья?
Yes, the nominative plural is друзья. However, the verb предать (to betray) requires a direct object in the accusative case. Because friends are animate (people), the accusative plural copies the genitive plural form. For irregular nouns with the -ья plural, the genitive plural is often irregular too—in this case, друзей.
Why does the sentence use своих instead of его for "his"?
Свой is a reflexive possessive pronoun that refers back to the subject of the sentence, meaning "one's own." If the sentence said Он решил предать его друзей, it would mean he decided to betray a different man's friends. Because he is betraying his own friends, you must use a form of свой.
Why is the ending for the pronoun своих instead of just свои?
Possessive pronouns must match the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. Because друзей is in the accusative-animate plural (which is identical to the genitive plural), the base pronoun свои must also take its plural genitive/animate-accusative form, which is своих.
The verb предать (to betray) looks a lot like передать (to pass) or продать (to sell). Are they related?
Yes, they all share the core root дать (to give). Предать essentially comes from the concept of "handing someone over" to an enemy. Recognizing these shared roots helps you remember that it follows the exact same perfective conjugation pattern as дать.
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